{"id":62770,"date":"2017-01-27T05:31:14","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T12:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=62770"},"modified":"2017-01-27T05:34:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T12:34:02","slug":"dont-underestimate-ven-athureliye-rathana-thero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/01\/27\/dont-underestimate-ven-athureliye-rathana-thero\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t underestimate Ven Athureliye Rathana Thero"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
Ven Athureliye\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero, quite silent and almost a non-factor in the public domain for almost a year, made the headlines of all national newspapers last week.\u00a0 \u2018Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero goes independent,\u2019 or versions of this, made the headlines.\u00a0 The truth is that\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo had already been\u00a0made\u00a0<\/i>independent.\u00a0 He had been unceremoniously evicted from the Jathika Hela Urumaya.\u00a0 Although a national list MP of the United National Party(UNP), it is no secret that he does not identify with that party.\u00a0 Although close to President Maithripala Sirisena, he has no truck with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.\u00a0 The JVP doesn\u2019t consider him a friend.<\/span><\/div>\n
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It was almost as though the obvious was being stated.\u00a0\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo has since stated that he will support the government.\u00a0 The JHU has called for his ouster from Parliament.\u00a0 What happens next, no one knows.\u00a0 Some insights into the\u00a0haamuduruwo\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0character, going by his history, might help infuse some reason into conjecture.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\"\"<\/div>\n
One Wednesday afternoon in early April 2001, while making my way from Town Hall to Jayasekeraramaya (Kuppiyawatte Pansala), I came across a small crowd of people staring in shock and horror at the Punchi Borella bo tree.\u00a0 Mangala Samaraweera, then a minister of the People\u2019s Alliance government headed by Chandrika Kumaratunga had ordered the half-wall surrounding the tree to be demolished.\u00a0 There was debris all over the place.\u00a0 The intent, according to reports, was to remove the bo tree, supposedly to alleviate traffic congestion.\u00a0 No warning.\u00a0 No explanation.\u00a0 Just a bulldozing with scarcely a concern for hurting the sentiments of Buddhists. Strange for a man and a colleague of others who then and now preach \u2018reconciliation\u2019 and demand \u2018sensitivity\u2019 from Sinhalese and Buddhists.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I proceeded to the temple where Ven Athureliye\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero (then of the Sihala Urumaya) was to explain the\u00a0Satipattana Sutta\u00a0<\/i>to a few of us as he had every Wednesday morning for several weeks.\u00a0 I reported what I saw and that signaled the end of the \u2018class\u2019 for that day.\u00a0\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero took off.\u00a0 Anuruddha Pradeep Karnasuriya, now a senior lecturer in Political Science at Jayawardenapura University and a spokesperson for the Jathika Hela Urumaya told me (in Sinhala), \u2018the\u00a0haamuduruwo<\/i>\u00a0will be standing on a barrel and making a speech in a few minutes\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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There was no barrel, but he did climb on to a block of concrete displaced by Mangala\u2019s machines and addressed the crowd which grew and grew to make within a few hours turned a full blown demonstration.\u00a0 Among those who came to check things out were UNP members, Dinesh Gunawardena and Mahinda Rajapaksa, all of whom were duly booed by the protestors for dishonesty, cowardice and even complicity in the anti-Buddhist operations of that regime. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I relate this incident because I believe it gives an insight into the political thinking and practice of \u2018Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Hamuduruwo\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I first saw him in December 1986 when he addressed students of Dumbara Campus, University of Peradeniya at the Weerasooriya Commemoration (Weerasooriya being a student who was shot dead at Peradeniya during a protest 20 years previously when Sirimavo Bandaranaike was Prime Minister).\u00a0 He was articulate.\u00a0 Compelling.\u00a0 Quite the orator.\u00a0 Quite a character.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Two years later he headed a panel set up by the Action Committee of the university to inquire into various allegations leveled against a group of students who opposed the JVP dominated student movement.\u00a0 At the time he was one of the key leaders of the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) and appeared to be a JVP loyalist.\u00a0 He was fair and did his utmost to settle the issues without the matter snowballing into a mini war. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Then came the\u00a0bheeshanaya<\/i>. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I saw him again in July 1990 when I visited Peradeniya while on vacation.\u00a0 I saw him walking into the enclosure reserved for the clergy in the WUS canteen.\u00a0 I was surprised and even happy that he was still alive.\u00a0 So I spoke with him.\u00a0 And that was the beginning of my long friendship with\u00a0Rathana<\/span>Hamuduruwo, a friendship marked by agreement and disagreement, much affection and many a light moment.\u00a0 He took criticism.\u00a0 He could take a joke. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Less than two years later we shared a cell at the Wadduwa police station.\u00a0 The OIC of that police station, Karunatilleka, was a man with a reputation for brutality.\u00a0 I heard sounds of people getting assaulted.\u00a0 There was screams.\u00a0 I asked the\u00a0hamuduruwo\u00a0<\/i>if we would be beaten up.\u00a0 He said \u2018hmmm\u2019.\u00a0 I asked if we would be killed.\u00a0 He said \u2018probably not,\u2019 adding, \u2018are you scared?\u2019\u00a0 I was, but lied.\u00a0 He knew.\u00a0 He said, \u2018don\u2019t be scared; after a few blows your body will go numb and you won\u2019t feel anything.\u2019\u00a0 He was correct.\u00a0 After I had been dragged out and \u2018treated\u2019, it was his turn.\u00a0\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo began chanting the\u00a0Karaneeyametta Sutta.<\/i>\u00a0 The OIC blurted out, \u2018karaneeyametta thoge ammage h\u2026..,\u2019 caught hold of the hamuduruwo\u2019s head and banged it several times against the wall of the cell.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Back then he was the chief incumbent of a temple in Palliyamulla, Matara.\u00a0 Rights to the temple he relinquished and moved to Colombo in the late nineties.\u00a0 He went from temple to temple like a vagrant.\u00a0 Kind and accommodating chief incumbents suffered the \u2018strange\u2019 comings and goings and one by one, inevitably, asked him to move on.\u00a0 Those who talk about his \u2018maaligaava\u2019 (palance) on Gothami Road, Sadaham Sevana,\u201d clearly haven\u2019t seen his room or observed the life he leads.<\/span><\/div>\n
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So he has a history.\u00a0 It all began with the fact that the great left leader, Dr. S.A. Wickramasinghe was from his village, Athureliya.\u00a0 His beginnings, therefore, were heavily influenced by the Marxism of the then \u2018old\u2019 left.\u00a0 Ranjithan Gunaratnam, the older brother of the current leader of the Frontline Socialist Party, Kumar Gunaratnam, then the convenor of the IUSF, had spent many hours discussing politics with\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo at Peradeniya. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u2018He must have talked to me for more than 100 hours over many nights; we discussed late into the night and he would sleep on the floor,\u2019 is how he described that association.\u00a0 \u2018Ranjithan was a wonderful human being,\u2019 he added, implying that his humanity had a larger part to play in the political choices that he,\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo, made as a student. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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When the student movement went \u2018military\u2019 he quit and as was the way at the time because a prime target. \u00a0 He survived both the JVP and the vigilante groups of the then UNP government.\u00a0 He survived \u2014 hence my surprise at seeing him in the WUS.\u00a0 He was a prime mover in the formation and activities of several political groups:\u00a0Ratawesi Peramuna<\/i>, Janatha Mithuro, National Movement Against Terrorism, Sihala Urumaya and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).<\/span><\/div>\n
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On the 14th of February, 2005, I went to see him at the Vihara Maha Devi Park where he was to address young people attending an event that offered an alternative to the crass and commercialized thing called \u2018Valentine\u2019s Day\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0Ama Wessa<\/i>\u00a0was the name of that programme, interestingly organized by Rev Galabodaaththe Gnanasara Thero of the Jathika Sanga Sammelanaya. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I asked him what was happening, referring to rumours that the Buddhist clergy was planning to contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections.\u00a0 He smiled and said \u2018What\u2019s happening?\u00a0 Athureliye\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0is going to the Parliament \u2014 that\u2019s what is happening.\u2019\u00a0 We were and are friends, so the arrogance was in part due to friendship.\u00a0 And due to friendship I said \u2018before this election is over, you will consider me one of your key political foes\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The JHU never had the numbers that the JVP had.\u00a0 It never had a party machinery that could hold a candle to that of the JVP.\u00a0 And yet, the JHU made maximum use of meagre resources,\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Hamuduruwo being one of the key individuals who could at any given moment alter equations and change the political direction of the entire country.\u00a0 If the JHU and\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Hamuduruwo had the parliamentary strength that the JVP enjoyed from 2005 to 2010, it is reasonable to state that they would have done much more than the JVP did, for better or worse as the case may be.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But we saw how the march on Mavil Aru changed perceptions and policy.\u00a0 We saw how that \u2018first move\u2019 turned out to be a \u2018necessity\u2019 in altering the policy of appeasement, mollycoddling and going through the tired and unproductive motions of \u2018peace\u2019 such as ceasefire agreements and negotiations. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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We saw how\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Haamuduruwo, accidentally invited to a donor conference in Kandy, took the microphone uninvited, said a few words, distributed a leaflet and thereby stymied efforts to channel aid directly to the LTTE in the post-tsunami context. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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We saw how he single-handedly pushed the JHU out of the coalition led by Mahinda Rajapaksa in late 2014 and how this move expand the space for the consideration of an alternative like the Maithripala Sirisena candidacy. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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We also saw how the signature project \u2018Mathata Thitha\u2019 lacked the support to bear any real fruit but we see that his\u00a0vasa visa nathi ratak<\/i>\u00a0project to rid agriculture of chemical inputs is slowly but surely gaining ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Ven Athureliya\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero has been deservedly accused of lacking in organizational discipline.\u00a0 He is outcome-focused and sometimes he sets multiple destinations for himself and therefore leaves followers stranded high and dry.\u00a0 Whether or not we like his preferred outcomes, whether we endorse what appears to be an ad hoc manner of engagement, it has to be acknowledged that without human resources to write home about, without an organizational machinery that is robust or even in barely working order, and despite a multitude of political detractors he\u2019s \u2018gathered\u2019 over the years over and above those ready and able to vilify him at every turn, this\u00a0bikkhu<\/i>\u00a0has nevertheless surprised one and all at key political moments.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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So what do we make of this Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)?\u00a0 A longtime friend and political associate who has known Ven\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero as long as I have, when it was put to him that the Thero had been\u00a0made<\/i>\u00a0independent anyway, had this to say: \u2018Stating the obvious, yes; but what it means is that a ball has been bowled to create doubt in the mind of the batsman\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What the response indicates is that there\u2019s a new turn of events that the general public is anticipating.\u00a0 Others, after all, have \u2018left\u2019 or declared \u2018independence\u2019 from the yahapaalana political establishment, but no one generated anything close to the kind of media curiosity that Ven\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero\u2019s statement precipitated.\u00a0 There\u2019s a demand for a rallying point, one might say, an anticipation of a first stone that needs to be cast.\u00a0 Whether or not we will see Ven\u00a0Rathana<\/span>\u00a0Thero doing another \u2018unexpected\u2019 we cannot predict.\u00a0 Neither can we predict the kind of configuration that might result if there is such an eventuality.\u00a0 The possibility lurks, though.\u00a0 That\u2019s quintessential \u2018Rathana\u00a0<\/span>Haamuduruwo\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE Ven Athureliye\u00a0Rathana\u00a0Thero, quite silent and almost a non-factor in the public domain for almost a year, made the headlines of all national newspapers last week.\u00a0 \u2018Rathana\u00a0Thero goes independent,\u2019 or versions of this, made the headlines.\u00a0 The truth is that\u00a0Rathana\u00a0Haamuduruwo had already been\u00a0made\u00a0independent.\u00a0 He had been unceremoniously evicted from the Jathika Hela Urumaya.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malinda-seneviratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}